The invention relates to a method of joining the ends of webs of material, especially of a running-off web of packaging material (running-off web) to the leading end of a new web (connecting web) of packaging material, in which during a phase of a temporary standstill of the running-off web, the latter is severed and a web end of the running-off web formed in this way is joined to a leading web end of the connecting web, for example by means of an adhesive tape. Furthermore, the invention relates to an apparatus for conducting the method.
In high-capacity packaging machines, the handling of the packaging material is particularly problematic. Efforts are made to avoid manual labour as much as possible.
Packaging material is mainly supplied in the form of wound webs of material, namely reels. When a reel of a running-off web is used up, the object is to join a new web with as few manual manipulations as possible. This is particularly problematic if the web is prepared for a specific position of the blanks which are made by being severed from the web. If the packaging material is printed with words or pictures which require a specific relative position within the blank, the severing cut has to be applied precisely between adjacent blanks.